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ANA INSPIRATION

April 2, 2015

Morgan Pressel

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome in our first round leader, Morgan Pressel, into the interview room. 2007 champion of this event, Morgan, bogey-free round here at this course, you have to be very pleased with it. Bogey-free round here any day is a great round. How happy are you with your start?

MORGAN PRESSEL: Definitely. I kept the ball in play most of the day. I was never really in terrible position. I hit one kind of really poor shot, I guess on 5 tee, but recovered nicely with a long bunker shot to a couple feet and saved par there. So that was just kind of a little early miss cue, but the rest of the day I just was very steady. There are a lot of tight tee shots out here, and I was able to hit it where I wanted to so I'm just happy with the way I played today.

Q. Afternoon scores are much lower than the morning. How are conditions? Were they just perfect for you?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, I was watching this morning because it was on TV, and it looked very challenging out there. Some of the players struggled on the toughest holes on the back nine that they showed on TV. This afternoon there was not much wind at all, a little on the front nine, but not nearly what it was in the morning. So we definitely got a little fortunate with the break and the conditions and took the time to take advantage of it.

Q. Things have been coming together pretty recently. Played super well last week in San Diego. You said you called up your old coach. What did you want to accomplish with him, and what has he helped you with so far?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, I was just kind of lost after Singapore this year. I knew where I wanted my swing to get but I was having trouble getting it there. So I called Ron to have him take a look at it, and it's just been really, really helpful. Very, very thankful that we've had the time to work on it, and I've really been diligent to work on what we've been trying to do. I mean there are a couple pieces, one, get my club more on plain, and I've gotten it way inside, going back and came out over the top. I was just struggling to get the club in front of me, so now I'm trying to keep better posture and get the club more -- out is not the right word, but it feels like out to me, more in front of me essentially. So I have a lot less movement on my golf ball which has been helpful, where I can now aim pretty much right down the center of the fairways and know that even if I miss it a little bit, I really, honestly I had no idea where the golf ball was going early this year, so it's a big change.

Q. Just following up, when did you guys first work on it, was it Phoenix?
MORGAN PRESSEL: It was the weekend before Phoenix, so about three weeks ago.

Q. Then just being a former champion here, when you walk through the walk of champions, do you pause and look at the plaque? Is it inspiration or motivation?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, it's definitely both. I think every player dreams of having their name up on that wall, and the fact that mine is up there, it's very, very special. I have so many great memories here, but I'd love to put it up there again. I don't look too much at it. I know last year I looked at it, and the first year it went up I paid a little more attention. But now I've decided to not look and just focus. So if I can get up there again, and don't get too far ahead of myself.

Q. You're at the top of the leaderboard. Ai Miyazato is top of the leaderboard. Both of you huge bombers off the tee -- no. How can somebody -- how can you explain how this course tends to be but thought of as a course where big, big hitters do well and yet you've won here, and Ai has played well here. What is the secret if you're not hitting it 280 or 290?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I think for a long hitter out here who can take advantage of some of the par-5s, which is helpful, there are places no matter how hard you hit it, you're behind a tree in a tough spot in a bunker. So I've always looked at this golf course as consistency as the tee. Yeah, Lexi hits it a long way, but if you watched her last year, she hit every fairway. So I think the big key out here is just keeping the ball in play. And knowing sometimes on some holes which side of the fairway you need to be on so you can hit and have a good angle through your approach shot.

Q. As you look back and talk about reflecting on the championship here, did you ever look at it and think maybe too much too soon or was it ever a burden for you? We were all talking about can she win her first or just give her time kind of thing?
MORGAN PRESSEL: She doesn't seem to pay any attention to that kind of pressure. It's pretty unbelievable to watch her play. Too much too soon? I don't know. I was a cocky young kid who thought that I could win. I mean, I did. I think the time commitment that came after that, I don't know if I was quite prepared for that, and I don't know if I had been taught necessarily to say no enough. I know that kind of sounds silly, but a lot of opportunities come your way, and at some point you have to focus on why you get those opportunities and not so much the opportunities themselves. So you need to get back to concentrating on my game, and it's not that easy to win out here. I don't know. You see somebody like Lydia kill it every week, but that's just really, really that much more impressive because it's not that easy. It's very, very cool to watch.

Q. I know you talked about changing your swing and stuff. I know earlier that you said ball change which is drastic. Where are you in that process and how has that gone for you?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, I've been messing around with a couple of different new Callaway golf balls this year, and kind of settled the last two weeks on the Chrome Soft. I know a lot of people talk about my length, but I feel like that's an old story, because I've played from places on this golf course that I haven't seen in 11 years of being here. So I had gap wedge into the back on 10 today, and I've certainly never been that far down to get that. So it's a little bit of a trust thing now, trusting that the golf ball is going to go that far, and I think that was kind of the few poor shots I hit today were me not committing to how far the golf ball is now going to fly with this new ball. I mean, it's fantastic because I can play just as well on the green so I don't think I've lost my feel. I've picked up a lot of distance, so I'm happy with it so far. It's been great.

Q. A lot of talk has been about Lydia this week, but just a couple names below yours is Juli Inkster. What pops into your head when you see Juli's name behind the leaderboard?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I saw that when we were walking up 18. I was like get it, Jules. She's unbelievable. The way that she still works just as hard as anybody out here. You would think at some point with the career that she's had, that she's really the only one who has had that. She just loves to play. She wants to get better, and nobody hates playing poorly more than Juli. She just is such a grinder and such a fighter. She's always tinkering. I know that she said that after last week she hit the ball really well, but needed to work on her putting. So I bet she spent all weekend practicing her putting and came out strong here. I'm sure she has a lot of great memories here, so it's a fun place to play.

Q. I wanted to ask what is the one most outstanding memory that you have from your victory here that replays in your head?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I have -- five things just went through my head. Probably the putt on 18. I remember standing over it and knowing that I was going to make it. For whatever reason I knew that putt was going in, and obviously standing on the range waiting to hear if Suzann had made the putt for birdie or not. It was just very special jumping in the lake with my grandmother too, so that was a very cool moment. There were so many. But mostly from Sunday. Mostly from the final round were all my strongest memories from 2007.

Q. You're still the youngest person to win a major. Is that something you're proud of, every time a major goes by and someone younger than you doesn't win it, does it make you happy?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, we were looking at video right now, huh? Records are made to be broken, but it is definitely something that comes up quite frequently. People say, oh, she's the youngest to win a major. I, of course, didn't think that I was all that young when I did it. But now looking at Lydia and how young she is, and how much she's won, it's quite unbelievable. But I figured at some point she would break my record. I mean, Lexi broke the youngest to qualify for the Women's Open record, so I mean, that's what it's there for. If some day years down the road, maybe less, somebody else will come out and have an opportunity to break the record, whatever it is.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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